5-Step Discernment Process

Step 1: Think about all the material blessings you enjoy. Do you consider them good gifts from God — your job and your income; your home, the furnishings, the utilities; your vehicles; food and water in abundance, other conveniences? Surely, you are blessed. Today, give thanks to God and ask God to help you “Be a giver, like a river!”
Write down your net income: $_____________per_____________

Step 2: Think about your church and all the ways God blesses you through it. Also, think about how your giving helps create blessings for others: our children and youth; young marrieds just starting out; those in need and the homebound; those sick or grieving; our local, state, and global mission projects. Think about all the fun that happens within the church family through the relationships we treasure, the joy of worship, and the opportunities for spiritual growth.
Write down the amount of your current pledge to God’s work at Boston Avenue United Methodist Church: $______________ per _____________.
Then note the percentage that represents (divide pledge number by income number): _______ %.

Step 3: Consider what step(s) you might take to grow in your giving this coming year? Contemplate where the challenge lies for you in your Christian walk. Ask how God would like you to grow in this coming year? Take some time to reflect and listen. Write down the areas you feel led to concentrate on.

Lord what do you want to do through me,
to fulfill your will for my Church?

Step 4: Think percentages. Jot down what a financial tithe (10% of your income) would be for you or your family: $___________ per ___________.

Step 5: Take time to sit alone in a quiet place to ask for guidance in this vital matter of becoming a giver, like a river for God. When you are ready, write down a number, do so expecting that God will be faithful in leading you to the abundant life that springs up within us and around us as we respond to the call to “be a giver, like a river!”